THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510060530
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
A juvenile justice commission adopted preliminary recommendations Thursday that Gov. George F. Allen said will help reverse a frightening increase in violent crimes by youths.
Among the recommendations are trying and punishing violent juvenile offenders age 14 and above as adults, opening juvenile court proceedings to the public and putting troublemaking students in ``alternative schools.''
The Governor's Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform will conduct public hearings in Richmond, Virginia Beach, Roanoke and Fairfax later this month before adopting a final report in December.
``The system we currently have is guided by a philosophy that there are no bad kids,'' Allen said. ``We all know better.''
The state Department of Criminal Justice Services distributed a report showing Virginia's juvenile crime rate increased by 21 percent while the national rate decreased by 4 percent between 1980 and 1993.
Even more disturbing, said Allen, were statistics showing Virginia's murder arrest rate for juveniles over the same period increased by 277 percent - more than two and a half times the national rise of 100 percent.
``These are frightening trends,'' Allen said.
``The problem we have now is 13- and 14-year-olds killing and maiming . . . and gangs of teenagers assaulting elderly people.''
Attorney General James S. Gilmore III, chairman of the commission, said the law must be toughened to deal with those increasingly violent youngsters.
``They commit adult crimes; they should serve adult time,'' he said.
Allen said he endorses that concept.
``It sends a message to these young thugs that there's not going to be any more free passes,'' he said.
The Criminal Justice Services report showed that juveniles convicted of murder spent on average 5.8 years in juvenile detention centers in 1994. Juveniles tried and sentenced as adults could expect to spend 22 years in prison, based on current sentencing guidelines.
Youths prosecuted as adults would serve their sentences in a separate prison to keep them from adversely influencing nonviolent other juveniles.
The recommendation to send chronically disruptive students to discipline-oriented alternative schools is part of an Allen administration push for safer schools.
``Together with our homes, our schools should be the safest places in our communities,'' Gilmore said.
Juvenile court proceedings now are closed to the public, but the commission wants to open them to crime victims and the public.
``Law-abiding citizens have suffered too long under a system that considers the rights of the criminal more important than the rights of the victim and the victim's family,'' said Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore.
Closed hearings are intended to avoid stigmatizing young offenders, the interim report says, but the real effect is that criminals avoid any sense of responsibility and victims are unable to learn what happens in court.
KEYWORDS: JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM JUVENILE CRIMINAL by CNB